These Are the Best Years of Your Life – The years you should spend enjoying the benefits of your hard work….not worrying about the future. As a senior you probably have an active, full, and satisfying life filled with friends, family, activities, and maybe a job you love. This time of your life is a wonderful period. Seniors’ Rights is designed to help you make the most of these years. It provides a thorough explanation of your available options in making some of life’s most important decisions, from what type of health care and which kind of insurance to where to live and how to travel. The book includes tip boxes that give information about valuable resource on topics such as: Living on a fixed income Living trusts Prescription cost calculator Social Security credits Political advocacy groups In-home health care Nursing home locator Traffic safety for seniors The first step to protecting your rights is to understand them. Written by an attorney, Seniors’ Rights provides you with the information you need to not only recognize your rights, but to use them effectively.

A Review from Booklist: The author endeavors to help seniors understand their rights involving medical care, bank accounts, retirement accounts, housing, and discrimination. She explains health insurance options and how to choose health-care providers. Also discussed are financial matters, such as applying for and receiving benefits and pensions as well as bank accounts and investments. A chapter examines options on where seniors can live: nursing homes, assisted living arrangements, continuing care communities, in-home care, staying with a family member, or hospice care for seniors with a life-ending illness. Sember, a lawyer, offers advice on ways to deal with and protect yourself from nursing-home problems, elder abuse, scams, home dangers, predatory mortgage lenders, credit card theft, and dishonest telemarketers. The first step to protecting your rights, as she indicates, is understanding them, and this book will help seniors achieve that goal.
George Cohen Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: FinancesThinking About the FutureSocial SecurityRetirement BenefitsBank AccountsProperty Tax ExemptionsLiving on a Fixed IncomeReverse MortgagesAffording Health Care

Chapter 2: Health Insurance

Types of Insurance
Medicare
Medicaid
Private Insurance
Long-Term Care Insurance

Chapter 3: Health Care

Choosing Health Care ProvidersInformed ConsentSecond OpinionsMedical PrivacyMedical RecordsAgainst Medical AdviceHealth Care DirectivesHospital Visitation AccessAffording PrescriptionsMedical TrialsStaying Healthy at Home

Chapter 4: Lifestyle

Assistance with MealsUtility AssistanceTransportaionIncome Tax ReliefSenior CentersSenior DiscountsReadingEmploymentVolunteering

Chapter 5: Housing

Living at HomeMobile HomesRentalsIn Home Health CareSelf-Provided CareSnowbirdsApartment LifeRV LifeLiving With FamilySenior LivingAdult Day CareAssisted LivingNursing HomesHospiceContinuing Care Retirement Communities

Chapter 6: Safety

Senior AbuseProblems in a Nursing HomeScamsCreditPredatory Mortgage LendersHome Safety

Chapter 7: Family Issues

Grandparents' Visitation RightsRaising GrandchildrenDivorceRemarriageCohabitationStepfamily

Chapter 8: Planning for the Future

Making DecisionsWills and EstatesTrustsPowers of AttorneyHealth Care Directives and ProxiesOrgan DonationAutopsies

Chapter 9: Loss of a Spouse

Funeral LawObituariesSafetyApplying for BenefitsProbateChanging Ownership

Chapter 10: Discrimination and Disabilities

Employment DiscriminationHousing DiscriminationCredit DiscriminationDisabilitiesAccess for the DisabledDisability BenefitsGuardianship

Chapter 11: Veteran's Benefits

Disability CompensationDisability PensionDependency and Indemnity CompensationDeath Pension BenefitBurial Plot AllowancesBurial FlagPOW BenefitsLoan GuaranteesHealth BenefitsOther Benefits

Chapter 12: Legal Assistance

Free Legal Advice
Pension Rights
Attorney Referral Program

Appendix A: Organizations

Appendix B: Web Sites

Appendix C: Senior Legal Hotline Directory

Appendix D: State Specific Resources

Appendix E: Nursing Home Resident's Rights in the US

Appendix F: Nursing Home Checklist

Appendix G: Forms